


new world, new rules

by marmolita



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 00:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11657400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marmolita/pseuds/marmolita
Summary: A series of vignettes exploring an a/b/o Black Sails.





	new world, new rules

**Author's Note:**

> This all started because I was on a roll of writing fic and wanted to do another for Black Sails and was struck by the notion that Charles Vane is the angriest omega the world has ever seen.
> 
> Warnings: extremely vague and non-graphic references to past dubcon and noncon, including an extremely vague and non-graphic reference to past underage noncon which is right at the beginning. And yes, there is one line of canon dialogue.

1.

Charles Vane's first heat was when he was 14 years old, and a slave. It's not something he likes to remember.

What he does remember, though, is his first heat as part of Teach's crew. Teach, who had taken a chance by letting an omega on his ship. Teach, who had treated him with nothing but respect despite the accident of their births setting them so far from each other. When he was 18 and could feel the heat coming on, he'd gone to Teach. It was difficult, walking into a tight cabin with an imposing alpha while hormones began to surge in his veins, but Teach hadn't tried to claim him. Teach hadn't even touched him. Instead, they'd landed to careen the ship, as it needed to be done regardless, and he'd sent Charles into the woods to wait it out.

None of the crew had gone looking for him. Charles still isn't sure whether it was because they didn't know what was going on, or whether they thought he belonged to Teach. He'd come back a few days later, and gotten to work, and nobody had looked twice at him.

The only time Teach had ever made comment on his sex was in Nassau, when things were falling apart between them, and he'd said, "Is this what I get for bringing an omega onto my crew? If I'd claimed you, would you have stayed?"

Charles hadn't answered, just walked away. That night, as Eleanor laid claim to him in every way Teach never did, he wondered if Teach was right.

2.

Jack had never expected to end up with an omega. When he was young and still imagining such things, he'd pictured himself settling down with a nice beta, a girl who matched him well, and maybe owning a shop. Well, the dreams of a shop had gone down in flames, as had his life in England. When all he had left was his burning desire to be worth something, when he had nothing to lose, Jack had met Anne.

Confronting a group of alphas is not a thing that a beta is supposed to do, but Jack was never the type of man who could stand by and watch. Somehow, he slits the man's throat. Somehow, the others back away.

Somehow, he ends up with Anne as his companion, as she learns to be far more than her biology has determined her to be.

The New World is a place where people can be things they could not in the old, where a girl can learn to fight and take her place on a pirate crew, where a beta can grow in power and leave behind a legacy. And for every alpha like Blackbeard or Eleanor Guthrie, there's a beta like Hornigold who's nearly as well-respected.  


Jack never expected to end up with an omega for a partner, sailing on a pirate ship with an omega captain, but Anne and Charles are the strongest, fiercest people he's ever met, and after a while, it's easy to forget that there are alphas and betas and omegas and to just _be_.

3.

Thomas and Miranda Hamilton have not been blessed with children -- at least, that's how it's put about politely. Those who are less inclined to be polite speak freely of the futility of a union between two alphas, and speculation runs wild over whether they will bring an omega into their marriage to conceive.

It's not a secret that Miranda has dallied with other men, thanks to the wagging tongues of their household staff, but she's never been bothered by it. After all, as long as she only beds betas, there will be no fruit of their union, and it's not a thing that Thomas minds. Thomas, however, isn't inclined toward betas at all, and if he can't have an omega, he would rather have Miranda alone.

Of course, everything goes to hell when they meet James McGraw.

He's a brawler -- that much is obvious. An omega in the navy needs to be tough, or he'd never last, certainly not through his first heat at sea. Miranda asks him about it, one day, as they're laying in bed watching the rain through the window. He looks at her, then across the room to where Thomas is lounging in a comfortable chair reading. "Technically," James says slowly, "omegas in heat are locked in the brig for the duration."

"Technically," she repeats. He inclines his head.

"That wouldn't be much fun for the rest of the crew though, would it." He sighs and stretches, rubbing a hand absently across the stubble growing on his cheek. "They draw lots. Winners get to go in the cell with you. It's not-- it's not as bad as it could be."

"I begin to wonder if the pirates are the uncivilized ones after all," Thomas remarks.

Later, when the scandal breaks and Thomas is gone and Miranda and James are concocting their plans, she'll say to him, "Captain Flint can't be an omega. Captain Flint has to be an alpha," and he'll agree.

4.

"Flint gives an order," Silver says, "but to get you men to follow it, I need to come down here, put on a show, and convince you it's in your interests. But I give you a look and you're willing to murder a man over it?"

It hits him, for the first time, that perhaps it has nothing to do with his personality at all. Perhaps it has everything to do with the fact that Silver is an alpha, no matter that he's never acted one, and despite the convincing show he's put on, Flint is not.

The circumstances of his childhood being what they were, Silver didn't even learn that he was an alpha until he was grown. There were no omegas in the orphanage, and it wasn't until he'd been pickpocketing at a brothel that he'd encountered an omega in heat and found himself so overcome that he forgot what he was doing while his hand was still in a man's pocket.

He'd been thrown out on the street, obviously, but it had made an impression.

The truth was that most people believed that Flint was an alpha, because most people were betas and couldn't tell. As a matter of course, Flint had a crew of all betas. Silver had known, though, from the moment they'd first put in to Nassau and Flint had rushed inland to find his woman before his heat came on for real. They'd never spoken of it and Silver didn't think they ever would. It wasn't really relevant.

At least, he'd thought it wasn't relevant, but here he is, as Flint's enforcer, with a man willing to do a murder just because he thought Silver wanted it.

He supposes, after a fashion, that this makes them a good team.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to [misswonderheart](http://misswonderheart.tumlbr.com) and [wildehack](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tyleet) for working this out with me! My thinking is:
> 
>   * Flint - omega who pretends he's an alpha
>   * Silver - alpha who pretends he's a beta
>   * Charles and Anne - angry omegas
>   * Eleanor, Teach, Madi - alphas
>   * Jack, Max, Billy - betas
> 

> 
> If you want to talk about it hit me up on tumblr @marmolita!


End file.
